


Opposites Attract

by kurapikas_chains



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Bad Parenting, Bullying, Canon Universe, Family Issues, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, POV Alternating, Pining, Protective Terushima Yuuji, TeruYama, i promise tsuki’s not a major dick in this he’s actually a good friend, i’ve added a crumb (it will probably get bigger) of kagehina because i’m addicted to them, jk i lied with the light angst tag, please take a chance on these boys i swear they’re worth it, rarepairs, teruyama brain rot has gotten the better of me, the angst in this fic got away from me oops, yamateru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26940256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurapikas_chains/pseuds/kurapikas_chains
Summary: Yamaguchi Tadashi was bullied as a child, so it’s not as big a deal to him when it happens again. He’s learned to grit his teeth and persevere, and sticking around his terrifying best friend has kept him safe as of late.But when he’s alone and cornered, Yamaguchi finds a savior in the most unexpected of places.
Relationships: Terushima Yuuji/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 39
Kudos: 260





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> you guys: write something other than kagehina!
> 
> me: okay *writes a rare pair*
> 
> in all seriousness, i love the opposites attract trope (cough kagehina cough) so when i was introduced to teruyama, i was so EXCITED! 
> 
> if you’re a fellow shipper, welcome and i’m glad to have you.   
> if you’re here from my other works or you’re testing the teruyama waters, please give them a chance! i promise they’re cute :-)
> 
> warning for some violence/bullying

“Yamaguchi! Let’s go!” 

Yamaguchi started and spun around to see Hinata waving and jumping around, gesturing wildly at him. 

“Coming!” Yamaguchi yelled in response, though not nearly as loudly. He hiked his bag up his shoulders and started weaving through the crowds, dipping and bobbing between the tightly pressed bodies. 

Suddenly, and without warning, the currents of the crowd started to shift, taking Yamaguchi with them as it curved and twisted, spilling out into a near empty hallway, spitting him out so aggressively he nearly fell over. 

“Shit,” Yamaguchi muttered to himself. He craned his neck to see if he could catch a glimpse of orange hair from across the lobby, but it was futile. The crowd was a living mass, a thick wall separating him and his team. 

There was no way he was getting back in that crowd, let alone make his way to the front doors unscathed. Resigning himself to his fate, Yamaguchi turned and made his way down the hall to try and search for an alternate exit. 

He was on his third right turn when he came across a lone boy standing leaned against the wall. He wore a red jersey from a team Yamaguchi didn’t recognize and looked mean as all hell. 

Immediately, Yamaguchi spun on his heel, not wanting to walk by someone like that, memories of his childhood bullies, but after less than five steps, he was greeted by another boy walking his way from the other end of the hall. He wore the same red jersey. 

“Oi! Look, it’s that shitty server from today!” A jeering voice sounded from behind him. 

Yamaguchi spun around to see the older boy swaggering towards him, but he’d been joined by another teammate. His stomach plummeted when he registered the look on their faces. 

He knew that look. He’d seen that look. 

It was the look that his childhood bullies had worn when they’d kicked him around and thrown his school bags in the trash can. That look was something Yamaguchi would probably never forget. 

But Tsukishima wasn’t here to protect him this time. 

He instinctively shrunk back, pushing up against the wall behind him. The three boys stalked forward from both directions like lions hunting their prey. 

“Look at him! No wonder he’s not a starter, he’s a fucking wimp!” The one in the middle said. He was taller than Yamaguchi by at least three inches and he had a sickening sneer twisting his features. The other boys snickered at his sly comment. 

“Good one, Matsuoda!” 

“Let’s teach him a lesson, Matsu!”

The ringleader in the middle, who must be Matsuoda, leaned over Yamaguchi and deliberately flicked his forehead. Yamaguchi flinched on reflex before squeezing his eyes all the way shut in preparation for the beating that was sure to come in this abandoned hallway. 

The first hit came in the form of a punch to the face, which was very forward for a situation like this. Typically, in Yamaguchi’s experience, bullies liked seeing their victims curled up on the floor as soon as possible. 

It still hurt like hell, though. His head cracked against the wall behind him before he bent at the waist, one hand coming up to his nose to try and quell the blood dripping onto the clean linoleum floor. 

Yamaguchi felt a hand on the top of his head, right where he’d just hit it, steadying him as a knee came up to meet his gut. He groaned and bent further before the hand on his head knotted in his hair and pulled sharply. 

Another knee, another yank of his hair. 

And again. 

And again. 

“What the hell is this?” 

Yamaguchi didn’t even try to stand when the hand on his head released him, resigning himself to embarrassment as he crumpled onto the floor. 

“What’s it to you?” He heard Matsuoda say snidely. 

“What did he do to you?” The voice from the end of the hall sounded familiar, but the haze of pain clouded Yamaguchi’s thoughts, rendering him unable to place it. 

“He’s a shit player. We felt that he needed a lesson on screwing up his team’s games,” Matsuoda said. The other boys snickered behind him. The voice at the end of the hall laughed back. 

Shit. Three bullies were already bad enough. This fourth one would probably kill him. Yamaguchi prayed they’d knock him out soon, purely so the pain would go away. 

“What, do you want to get a hit in?” Matsuoda called to the voice. Yamaguchi heard footsteps growing closer. 

“Oh, I want to get a hit in, alright,” the voice muttered. Yamaguchi tensed in preparation, but the hit never came. Instead, he heard a sickening crunch and a groan of pain. 

Yamaguchi cracked one eye open to see a blur of yellow sock the guy on the right in the face and then bring his elbow back to the stomach of the left one. The three of them stumbled back, groaning and clutching their respective points of impact. 

“Get the hell out of here, you jackasses. You make me sick.” 

The three boys turned tail and practically ran down the hall. 

“Oi. Oi! Freckles! Are you alright?” Yamaguchi saw his savior kneel beside him as a face swam in his field of vision. 

“Wait, wait, Freckles, don't pass out on me. Don’t you dare, we gotta get you to a nurse or something,” the boy said. Yamaguchi tried to reply but the sounds just got stuck in his throat. 

“Don’t strain yourself, Freckles. You took a bit of a beating back there.” The boy’s hand came to rest on Yamaguchi’s forehead, brushing back his hair. 

“I should get you to the nurse. Can you walk?” 

Yamaguchi tried to push himself up on shaky arms, but they couldn’t support his weight and he crashed back down to the hard floor. 

“Okay, that’s it. We’ve gotta get you there now.” 

Suddenly, Yamaguchi wasn’t on the floor anymore. He looked around at the floor below him and then at the boy carrying him in his arms. With a small gasp, he lifted his arms, clasping them around his saviour's neck, the fear of being dropped much greater than his embarrassment. The face that looked down at him was suddenly a lot clearer at a closer vantage. 

He was unfairly handsome. 

His hair was long on the top and bleach blonde, with dark roots underneath and his ears were studded with jewelry. His mouth was soft and his eyes were sharp as he looked down at Yamaguchi. 

“Hey, Freckles. You look a little better,” he commented. 

“Johzenji,” Yamaguchi slurred out. That’s how he knew this boy. He was the captain of Johzenji, the team they’d played that morning. Yamaguchi had noticed him then, mentally cataloguing the handsome face and strong arms, but the wild captain was exactly the kind of person who would never like Yamaguchi. He’d resigned himself to watch from afar and to let that be enough. 

“Hey! Look at that, you finally recognized me! I’m Terushima, and yeah, I’m captain of the Johzenji team. What about you? I think I would have remembered you playing,” he remarked. 

Yamaguchi’s foggy mind didn't quite understand that. “Uh… ‘m Yamaguchi. Pinch server,” he slurred. 

“Yamaguchi. Ya-ma-gu-chi,” he said, rolling the syllables around like he was tasting each letter. “I dunno. I think I might like Freckles better,” he finished with a grin. 

It was funny. All his life, Yamaguchi had been teased and bullied for the stupid freckles that littered his cheeks like a splatter of paint. But hearing Terushima say it didn’t sound like an insult. Instead, it made butterflies erupt in his stomach. 

Unfortunately, his stomach was already being occupied by the pain from the knees he’d taken, so the feeling was practically nullified. 

“Mmkay,” Yamaguchi murmured in response. 

Truth be told, the only reason he wasn’t closing his eyes and passing out right there was because he didn’t want to waste a single moment of being in Terushima’s arms. 

The rest of the walk to the nurse’s office was largely silent and over far too quickly. Terushima awkwardly readjusted in order to swing the door open, nodding to the woman before laying Yamaguchi out on the cot against the wall. 

“Oh, my goodness! Did this happen during his game?” The older woman asked, flitting over his various limbs, prodding and poking. 

“Oh, no. He got cornered by some guys in an empty hallway after the games were done. They didn’t like the way he played,” Terushima explained. The woman gasped and placed a hand on Yamaguchi’s forehead. 

“Did you hit your head, sweetie?” She asked. 

Yamaguchi thought back as hard as he could. “Yeah, after he punched me… my head hit the wall. Hard. Then he kept grabbing my hair and yanking it… I think,” he mumbled. 

He glanced at Terushima, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked unbelievably angry. 

_ Dammit. I’m probably keeping him from his teammates. He must be angry because he feels like I need him to take care of me.  _

Yamaguchi squeezed his eyes shut. Damn intrusive thoughts. 

“What’s your name, darling?” The woman asked. 

“Yamaguchi Tadashi.”

“Where are you right now?” 

“...Sendai City Gymnasium.”

She asked him a few more basic questions, presumably trying to test for a concussion. Yamaguchi was relieved to find that his speech was progressively less slurred and his mind was increasingly more clear as he spoke. 

Terushima seemed less angry by the time she cleared him of concerns of a concussion, but when Yamaguchi had to take off his shirt to let her inspect the bruised skin of his torso, he just glared at the floor. 

Yamaguchi was nervous to be sitting there, shirtless, in front of an attractive guy, but Terushima didn’t even look at him. Yamaguchi was a little bit upset at that, but he didn’t really want to reflect on why. 

The nurse wrapped his chest in a white bandage and helped him put his shirt back on after she’d cleared him. 

“Will you grab Yamaguchi-kun a glass of water, darling?” The woman asked Terushima, who immediately jumped up and dashed out of the door, seemingly grateful for an opportunity to be of use. 

She fiddled around the drawers for a moment before pulling out two small red pills, placing them in his open palm. 

“Advil, sweetie. You’re probably gonna be in some pain for a while, but if you feel good enough, I’d say you can probably play again tomorrow.”

Yamaguchi smiled weakly at her. “Thank you, ma’am.” 

Terushima came back shortly with a paper cup of water, which Yamaguchi gratefully accepted, taking a swig and swallowing the painkillers. 

“Alright, darling. You Karasuno players need to stop getting hurt, alright? I’m rooting for you,” she said with a wink. 

Yamaguchi smiled and made to get up, but when he put his weight back on his legs, he stumbled and tilted, only to be caught by Terushima’s waiting arms. 

Yamaguchi blushed, much more aware now of the taut muscles steadying him and the heat of Terushima’s chest. 

“C’mon, Freckles. Let’s get you back to your team. They’re probably freaking out that a crow's missing from the nest,” Terushima said, twisting an arm under Yamaguchi’s to distribute his weight to make it easier to walk. 

“It’s fine. They probably haven’t noticed,” Yamaguchi said softly. Terushima looked at him. Yamaguchi realized with a start that he was probably an inch taller than the other boy, despite being a year younger. 

“Hey, even if they haven’t noticed, that just means  _ we  _ got to spend more time together, huh?” Terushima teased. Yamaguchi flushed again, feeling his heart flutter in his chest. The two of them made their way outside to see the team standing around outside of their bus, Takeda doing a headcount. 

“Has anyone seen Yamaguchi?” He heard Ukai ask. 

A chorus of negatives followed and Ukai frowned. Yamaguchi took a breath and called out. “I’m here! Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“Why are you sorry?” Terushima asked, his voice low so that only Yamaguchi could hear it. 

“‘Cause I made them wait forever!” Yamaguchi responded. Terushima frowned and looked like he was about to refute his statement Hinata came bounding up to them. 

“Yamaguchi! What happened?” Hinata asked, bouncing up and down. “Why are _you_ here?” That was directed at Terushima, more than a little accusation in his tone. The rest of the team had followed and were gathered around them, staring. Yamaguchi flushed under the undivided attention of his whole team.

“Oh, nothing, it’s fine-“ Yamaguchi started to brush it off before Terushima interrupted him. 

“Some third years on a losing team beat him up ‘cause they thought his serves were bad. I took care of them and brought Freckles to the nurse. He’s fine, no concussion. He should be okay to play tomorrow,” Terushima explained. 

The team gaped at him. Yamaguchi hung his head. 

“Yamaguchi are you alright?”

“Where does it hurt?”

“Can I beat them up too?” 

Yamaguchi waved their questions away with a hand. “I’m fine. We should get going if we want to have time for a meeting at school.”

Daichi studied him for a second. He must have seen something in Yamaguchi’s expression that conveyed his hatred for the attention, because he clapped and started directing the team back to the bus. 

Yamaguchi turned to Terushima, who was looking at the team with thinly veiled interest. 

“Thank you. For… saving me and taking me to the nurse. I know it was probably inconvenient for you, but I appreciate it. A lot. Thanks,” Yamaguchi stammered. 

Terushima gave him a sly grin. “Inconvenienced? By you, Freckles? You could never be an inconvenience, trust me. I’ll see you around.” Terushima squeezed his waist before pulling away and jogging back inside. 

“You better beat Seijoh for me, Freckles! Good luck!” He yelled, jogging backwards to call out and waving before turning back around. 

Yamaguchi’s unsteady legs as he walked back to the bus had nothing to do with his injuries. 

He sat down next to Tsukishima with a wince, his ribs aching. Daichi gave him a worried look from the front of the bus, but Yamaguchi responded with a small smile, which seemed to placate him. 

“Are you okay?” Tsukishima asked bluntly. Yamaguchi turned to face him. 

“Ah, yeah. It wasn’t really that bad. Terushima got there before it could get really serious,” Yamaguchi said. Tsukishima looked at him. 

“I don't like him,” he stated plainly. 

Yamaguchi was taken somewhat aback. “Who? Terushima? He’s nice!” He said defensively. 

Tsukishima let out a ‘tch’ of disapproval. Yamaguchi slumped over in his seat and stared at his hands in his lap, clenching and unclenching them. 

_ Inconvenienced? By you, Freckles? You could never be an inconvenience, trust me. _

Terushima’s voice rang through his head, the mere memory sending butterflies to his gut, a blush spreading across his face. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t stop the small smile from tugging his lips up. 

—————

Terushima stared out of the window of his classroom, cheek pillowed on the hard wood of his desk. His friends were talking next to him, but he wasn’t paying any attention. All he could think about were stupidly cute freckled cheeks that blushed bright red when Terushima gave him a compliment. 

The clouds chugged by in the sky, passing over the sun briefly, casting shadows on the courtyard in front of him.

Damn. He should have given Freckles his number, or at least a way to contact him. 

But would Freckles have even wanted to get in touch? Maybe he was just shy and would have blushed at  _ any  _ compliment, not just Terushima’s. That thought made his brows furrow.

More importantly, was he okay? How was his head? Did his ribs still ache? Did he get to play in the game against Seijoh? Terushima hoped his injuries didn’t get in the way of his serves. It was killing him to not get to know if Karasuno was gonna make it to the finals until after school. 

“If we’d won yesterday, we could have been at the semi finals right now,” Terushima complained, his head still facing away. 

Bobota and Futamata groaned in agreement. 

“We could be playing at Sendai instead of sitting through this stupid class,” Bobota lamented. 

Terushima stiffened, glad his back was turned on his teammates. “Yeah, totally,” he said. Because that’s why he wanted to be there. He didn’t want to be in class. It was certainly  _ not  _ because he wanted to check up on Karasuno’s pinch server. That would be… weird. 

Thankfully, neither of them seemed to notice his pause, because they kept the conversation flowing, switching topics when the subject of volleyball started to turn into a pity party. Terushima tuned them back out, settling to absentmindedly watch the clouds again, imagining what it would be like to give those knuckle-headed dickwads a real beating. 

He could see Yamaguchi crumple to the floor, hear the sounds he made when they drove a knee into his gut. And then Yamaguchi had been  _ sorry  _ that he’d kept his team waiting? The whole thing was stupid and aggravating and made Terushima want to punch a wall. He settled for just clenching and unclenching his fists, trying to quell the anger rising in his chest. 

The rest of the day passed agonizingly slow, the minutes seeming to drip by like molasses. Every time he’d think of Yamaguchi, he’d feel the need to duck his head and take a deep breath, which happened often. Whenever those thoughts turned to Yamaguchi’s bullies, he’d end up with crescent shaped indents on his palms from clenching his fists too hard.

When the final bell rang, he vaulted over his desk and dashed into the hall, skidding around the corners and just barely dodging classmates and teachers alike. 

He flung himself into the clubroom and got changed at record speed, throwing his uniform haphazardly into his locker and slamming it shut, ignoring the looks he got from his teammates, who were just arriving to change at a regular pace. 

Terushima skidded into the gym and ran over to his coach, who jerked his head up at he sight of the winded captain. 

“Do you… know who won… the semifinals?” He panted out between breaths. Coach Anabara looked at him for a second. 

“I didn’t think you’d care much, Terushima-kun, I’ll be honest. Lucky  for you, I’ve been keeping up! Tomorrow’s match is Shiratorizawa and Karasuno!”

Terushima couldn’t help the whoop that escaped him, punching his fist into the air in celebration. 

“Wow, I didn’t think you had that much of a grudge against Aoba Johsai,” Misaki commented from the doorway. 

Terushima turned to her sheepishly. “I don’t! I’m just… rooting for Karasuno. I liked the way they played yesterday. They weren’t nearly as dickish about beating us as Seijoh was,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Language, Terushima!” His coach called out. Terushima hurriedly apologized and bowed, then bowed to Misaki for good measure, who flushed and waved him away with a laugh. 

“Well, we’ll see how they fare against Shiratorizawa tomorrow,” his coach said. “But from what I’ve heard from their game against Aoba Johsai, they’ll certainly give Ushiwaka and his team a run for their money. They’ve got that crazy number ten and that setter with their demon quick. And the captain, of course. Besides that, I’ve heard they have a pinch server we didn’t get to see who picked up half a dozen points with a killer jump float,” he said, glancing down at the papers in his hand. 

Terushima stared at him and grinned widely. 

_ That’s my Freckles.  _

His good mood carried through the practice, infecting the air and lifting the spirits of the whole team, still sore and upset from their loss the previous day. 

“Terushima!” His coach called as the first years started putting the balls away. Terushima dutifully jogged over, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. 

“Terushima,” he repeated. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, but I’m just curious. Why are you in such high spirits after taking a loss? I don’t remember you being this joyful after Seijoh beat us at the Interhighs,” Coach Anabara said. 

“Oh! Uh,” Terushima rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I just like Karasuno. I want them to get to the top. Plus, they beat Seijoh, so that makes me like ‘em more!”

Coach Anabara nodded in agreement. “I liked them too. They pissed me off, but I respect them. Not the clipped crows we thought they’d be, that’s for damn sure.” 

“Not at all,” Terushima said, mostly to himself. He bowed lightly and jogged back to the club room to change back into his regular clothes. That stupid grin wouldn’t leave his face, even as he made his way home, hands in his pockets and a bounce in his step. 

They’d done it.  _ He’d  _ done it. No one could make fun of Yamaguchi for picking up five points in a row on serves alone, that was for sure. 

He unlocked his front door with a grin, toeing off his shoes and knocking the door closed with his heel. 

“I’m home!” He yelled to the house. 

“Yuuji!” His older sister, Mei, came skidding to the top of the stairs, grabbing onto the railing to keep her balance. “Great! I need you to babysit Aiko while I go to a party!” 

Terushima sighed. He loved his older sister with all his heart, after all her job at the tattoo parlor had given him access to all the piercings he could ask for, but she wasn’t great when it came to familial responsibility. 

“Sure, Nii-san. Let me know when you leave, ‘kay?” He said, hanging his coat on the rack by the door. Mei cheered and disappeared into the bathroom, presumably where she’d be until she left. Terushima plodded up the stairs and knocked on his little sister’s door. He heard a small crash and a yelp before he opened the door slowly. 

“Everything okay?” He asked, holding back a laugh as he saw his eight year old sister sitting on the floor with the entire contents of her closet strewed across every available surface. The shelves, the bed, the floor, and even the desk were all covered by a rainbow of fabrics, with one grumpy looking girl in the middle, huffing. 

“I have nothing to wear,” Aiko said with a pout. Terushima picked up the item of clothing closest to him, which was a pair of sparkly blue leggings, and held them against his legs. 

“Whaddya mean, Ai? You’ve got plenty of stuff!” Aiko giggled and yanked the pants away from him, balling them up and hurling them into the closet with surprising force. 

“I have nothing  _ special! _ ” She whined. Terushima picked up a handful of clothes and tossed them at her. She caught them with a frown. 

“I’m in charge of you tonight, so if you clean up your room, we can go out and buy a new dress before it gets dark,” Terushima offered. While Terushima might look intimidating and sure, he liked to pull pranks and flirt his fair share, he had a soft side, namely for his little sister. His whole team knew and loved her, so it wasn’t like he was embarrassed to hang out with her in public. Besides, no one really messes with a guy with a tongue piercing. That’s just kinda.. how the world works. 

Aiko squealed and immediately launched into a frenzy of folding and organizing. Terushima chuckled and closed the door behind him, heading into his own room. 

He sunk onto his desk chair and pulled out his phone, swiveling back and forth absentmindedly. He fiddled around on various apps for a while before he found himself searching ‘karasuno spring high preliminaries’ into his browser. 

He clicked on the first promising looking article and was immediately greeted by a massive picture of Oikawa Tooru’s face. He scowled and scrolled past it, skimming the text until he finds a picture of the Karasuno High team, arms around each other and grinning widely at the camera. He immediately sook out Yamaguchi, brushing past the fiery number ten and the stone faced setter. When he finally found him, Terushima let out a sigh of relief. His eye looked almost entirely normal, healing at an impressive speed. His nose was a little red, but unless you were really looking, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that he’d been beaten up a day before. 

Damn. He wished the finals could take place on a weekend so that he could watch. He was on thin ice at school- one too many pranks and jokes pulled, and his classes were tough, so there was little chance he could really get away with skipping. He sighed and resigned himself to another irritating day of anticipation without answers, not knowing who would come out on top until afternoon practice. 

A knock on his door sounded, accompanied by a cry of ‘let’s go, Nii-chan!’. Terushima smiled to himself as he opened the door and ushered his sister to her shoes, and thus, the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> interesting things always happen at the mall...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg! so happy that other people are enjoying this, writing a rare pair is kind of like sending a piece of writing into the void. you just don’t know if anyone’s gonna like it or even read it. 
> 
> also i just cannot decide whether i should be calling him tsukishima or tsuki since yamaguchi calls him tsuki but it’s in third person... so i just kinda did both??? sorry if that bothers you!
> 
> thank you to everyone who’s reading and kudos-ing and commenting! i really appreciate it!! love you all :-)

Yamaguchi was swinging his legs and lying on the bed with his hands clasped behind his head when Tsukishima cursed loudly and threw his headphones into the open closet with a shocking amount of force. 

“What’s wrong, Tsuki?” Yamaguchi asked, propping himself up on his elbows. 

Tsukishima scowled. “They’ve been on the fritz for weeks but they finally cut out for good today,” he explained coldly, glaring daggers at the pair of white headphones lying on the floor. 

Yamaguchi worried at his lip for a moment. A Tsukishima on the long bus ride to the finals without headphones was absolutely  _ not  _ a Tsukishima the world needed. 

“If you can take a break from studying, we can probably go downtown to buy a new pair. It’s not even dark yet,” Yamaguchi offered. Tsukishima looked from his open textbook to the headphones, then to Yamaguchi. He sighed, long and drawn out, before pushing his chair back and standing up. 

“Alright. Let’s go, then,” he said, leaving the room with Yamaguchi still in it, scrambling to find where he’d dropped his sweater earlier. 

“We’re going out, Mom,” Tsukishima said as he pulled his shoes on. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be resting for the finals tomorrow, dear?” His mother asked. Tsukishima waved her away with a hand. 

“Tsuki’s headphones broke, and the bus ride is kinda long, so we’re going to get new ones!” Yamaguchi supplied, finishing the knots of his laces. 

“I was wondering when those old things would finally give out, you’ve been wearing them since junior high! Here, darling, take some money,” she said, grabbing her wallet from a jacket hanging by the door. Tsukishima took it with a nod and Yamaguchi gave her a large grin before they were out the door. 

The walk to the nearest mall with an electronics store was short, but the air was fairly brisk and Yamaguchi had his hands stuffed as far into his pockets as they would go, gloves forgotten on Tsuki’s desk. 

A shiver ran down Yamaguchi’s spine as a chill wind ran icy fingers through his hair and across his cheeks. He was positive his ears and nose were pink right now, which always made his freckles show even more, much to his dismay. 

_ Good luck, Freckles! _

Another shiver ran down Yamaguchi’s spine, though this one wasn’t due to the wind. 

His short time with Terushima Yuuji felt a bit like a dream. The thought of someone that attractive and suave and just  _ cool _ paying any attention to Yamaguchi, let alone giving him a nickname- it was surreal. 

But Yamaguchi wasn’t getting his hopes up. He wasn’t stupid. 

He’d seen Terushima flirting with Kiyoko before the match, and heard a (most likely dramaticized) story from Hinata about how he’d ‘protected Kiyoko-san from all those who wished her harm.’ 

The truth of the matter was, when Terushima had flirted with Kiyoko, he’d asked for her number. He hadn’t asked for Yamaguchi’s. 

Yamaguchi was probably just reading far too much into the situation. 

They reached the electronics store in record time, but when Tsuki pulled the door open, Yamaguchi felt a tugging on his jacket. Startled, he looked down to see a young girl, maybe seven or eight, with big, tear filled eyes and a terrified expression on her face. Something about her seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

“I lost my Nii-chan!” The girl wailed, distraught. Yamaguchi looked over at Tsukishima, who had a look of absolute discomfort on his face. Tsuki didn’t like kids. Really, Tsuki didn’t like anyone, but kids were his kryptonite. 

“I’ll handle this, Tsuki. Go get your headphones,” Yamaguchi said quietly. Tsuki muttered his thanks with a nod and quickly disappeared into the store. 

Yamaguchi turned around and knelt down beside the crying girl. He rubbed his hands together quickly, trying to warm them up, before wiping her tears away, praying his hands weren’t too cold. 

“What’s your name, honey?” Yamaguchi asked softly, leading her over to a nearby bench, lifting her up to sit beside him. 

“A-Aiko. I went to the bathroom and when I came back, my Nii-chan was gone! I can’t find him!” She wailed again. Yamaguchi pulled her to his side and started petting her hair, trying to calm her down. 

_ Damn. Is this what Suga feels like when Hinata gets upset?  _ Yamaguchi thought to himself with a slight smile. 

“It’s gonna be alright, Aiko-chan. My name is Yamaguchi, and I’m going to help you, okay? We’ll find your brother, don't worry! Do you remember what store you were in?” Yamaguchi asked. Aiko looked around at the stores with growing dismay and then back at him with big eyes and shook her head. She looked like she was on the verge of crying again, so Yamaguchi spoke quickly. 

“Do you know his phone number, Aiko? If you do, I can call him on my cell phone and we can find him super quickly!” Yamaguchi suggested. Aiko looked at him like he’d hung the moon. 

“I do!! He made me memorize it in case I got lost!” Aiko exclaimed. Yamaguchi sighed in relief. That would make this a whole lot easier. He pulled out his phone and handed it to her with the keypad open. She hesitated on a few numbers, but ended up with the right amount. Ah, well, all he could do was hope it was correct. 

Aiko stared at the phone in her hand before looking back up at Yamaguchi with the largest puppy dog eyes he’d ever seen- and he was friends with Hinata Shouyou.

“C-can you call him? He might be mad at me,” Aiko said quietly. 

Yamaguchi smiled and took the phone. “Of course I can.”   


He pressed the dial button with a sense of foreboding that he couldn’t quite explain. The call connected after a single ring and a sharp voice barked out, “Hello?”

“Uh, hi! I hope this is someone looking for their sister, because she’s with me and says this is your number,” Yamaguchi explained nervously. 

What if this was the wrong number? What if he got yelled at? What if the guy on the other end took this as an opportunity to kidnap Aiko? Yamaguchi’s breathing sped as the silence on the other end of the line stretched out. 

Finally, the voice spoke again. “...Freckles?” 

Yamaguchi’s heart stopped beating. 

“Terushima?” He asked in return, shocked. 

A laugh sounded on the other end of the line. It made Yamaguchi's stomach erupt in butterflies. 

“Out of all the people in this mall, Aiko found you. She’s got good taste, I’ll give her that” Terushima joked. 

Yamaguchi spluttered. “We’re, uh- We’re outside the electronics store. On the west end of the mall. If you want to come find me- I mean her. If you want to find Aiko,” Yamaguchi stuttered into the receiver. 

“Calm down, Freckles! I’m coming your way. I’ll come find Aiko- and you,” Terushima said charmingly before the call disconnected. Yamaguchi let out a shuddering breath. 

That was the single most high stakes phone call of his entire life. 

“Was it my Nii-chan?” Aiko asked. Yamaguchi jumped when she grabbed his arm, feeling like an easily startled deer with his nerves on such high alert. 

“Yeah, yeah, it was. He’s coming our way to come get you now,” Yamaguchi explained, trying to will his pulse back to normal through sheer determination. It wasn’t working. 

“Thank you, Yamaguchi-san! You’re the best ever!” With that, Aiko leapt onto him and squeezed his waist tightly, burying her face in his sweater. 

Yamaguchi was glad she couldn’t see him as he grimaced at the pain she was causing by gripping his bruises so tightly. Somehow, he couldn’t find it in himself to ask her to stop, despite the tears springing up in his eyes. 

“Whoa, Aiko! You gotta ease up! Freckles got a little hurt the other day, so you gotta be gentle!”   


Yamaguchi’s head whipped up to see Terushima with his hands in his pockets, looking quite concerned. Aiko reluctantly pulled away from her intense grip on Yamaguchi’s torso and he let a small sigh of relief escape his lips. 

“Nii-chan! You found me!” Aiko exclaimed, springing off the bench and latching onto her brother. Terushima grinned and spun her around. 

Yamaguchi felt his heart stutter as he watched this intimidating, cool, handsome guy kiss his little sister on the top of the head and ruffle her hair. 

“Thanks for finding her for me, Freckles,” Terushima grinned. 

“Oh! It’s, uh- It’s no big d-deal! She… mostly found  _ me, _ so…” Yamaguchi stammered. 

“What are the chances? The high and mighty playboy captain of Johzenji has graced us with his presence,” Tsukishima’s voice sneered from behind Yamaguchi. 

“Tsuki-“ 

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

“Sorry, Tsuki.”

Terushima’s eyes darted between them suspiciously, before he licked his lips, seemingly unconsciously. 

Yamaguchi practically melted. 

His tongue piercing glinted in the reflection of the setting sun and the wind blew at that same moment, tousling his hair in all the right ways and settling so that he had to blow a stray piece out of his eye, once again giving Yamaguchi a glimpse of sparkling silver. 

His stomach was doing backflips and his palms were starting to sweat, so he tried his best to wipe them on the inside of pockets as subtly as possible. 

“How are you feeling, Freckles? Is your head okay? Your ribs? Your nose?” Terushima asked, genuine concern written all over his face. 

_ Was he… worried about me? Could he have been thinking about me?  _ Yamaguchi felt butterflies erupt at the thought. 

“Y-yeah! I’m fine, really,” Yamaguchi stammered, not quite making eye contact.

“Good! I’m glad. So, what are you two doing out here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for the finals?” Terushima inquired, leaning in with a grin. 

Yamaguchi blushed so hard he felt like his head was about to explode, but luckily Tsukishima responded with a scoff. 

“How do you know we’re to the finals? Trying to live vicariously through the people who bested you?” Tsukishima sneered. 

Terushima just laughed. “I needed to check up on how my favorite pinch server was doing, didn’t I? Five points! That’s a nice job you did, Freckles,” he said with a wink. 

Yamaguchi was no longer a conscious being. He was a puddle of nerves and infatuation, reduced to nodding and stuttering out a stupid response. 

“Th-thanks. At least no one b-beat me up this t-time,” he stammered, his face retaining that embarrassing flush. 

Terushima stared at him for a moment before chuckling. “Damn, Freckles! I didn’t expect you to be the kinda person to make those jokes! I like this side of you!” 

Yeah, Yamaguchi would be thinking about this interaction for the rest of the year. 

“Can you guys stop flirting? I’m gonna throw up my dinner soon,” Tsukishima interrupted. 

If Yamaguchi was blushing before, he was beet red now. 

“We- We weren’t-“

“Were we not? Awe, man,” Terushima sighed jokingly. “And I thought I was getting you all flustered, too. Damn. Guess I‘ll have to try harder to get the message across next time,” he finished with a wink. 

Tsukishima made vomiting noises behind them, but Terushima just laughed again. Yamaguchi was pretty sure he would never get tired of that sound. 

“Nii-chan, I wanna go home!” 

Yamaguchi looked down guiltily at Aiko, whose presence he’d all but forgotten about. Terushima ruffled her hair again as she pouted and crossed her arms. 

“Right, right. We really should get going, but it was a  _ pleasure  _ to run into you, Freckles. And you, Glasses. Well, good luck tomorrow!” Terushima said. Aiko was already walking off, pulling her brother along behind her. 

Just before he was out of earshot, Terushima turned around and held his phone up. 

“You’ve got my number now, Freckles! I look forward to seeing what you do with it!” 

Yamaguchi nodded intensely and stared at the ground as Terushima turned back around to face forward. 

“Do you like him?” 

Yamaguchi spun around in his seat to see Tsuki staring at Terushima’s retreating figure. He looked down at him, but the look on his face wasn’t one of teasing or mockery. He seemed… curious. 

“I- Yeah… Kinda…” Yamaguchi stammered, a smile tugging his lips up. 

“I trust your judgment, Tadashi. If you think he’s a good guy, I won’t try to stop you,” Tsuki said. He looked back at Terushima, barely visible at the end of the parking lot. “But if he hurts you, just know that I’ll kick his ass. I’ll tell him that, too.”

Yamaguchi smiled up at his best friend, who he’d expected to mock and belittle him for having a crush, but was instead supportive and maybe even a little protective. “Thank you, Tsuki!” 

“If you tell anyone on the team I said that, I’ll beat your ass, too.” 

“Right!” 

—————

Terushima was practically skipping on his way home and, let’s be clear, Terushima Yuuji doesn’t skip. 

“Why do you call Yamaguchi-san Freckles, Nii-chan?” Aiko asked from beside him. 

Terushima grinned. “Because he’s got freckles on his nose!”

“Do I have freckles on my nose, Nii-chan?” Aiko asked earnestly, squeezing her eyes shut and tilting her head to give Terushima a better view of her nose. He just laughed and flicked her forehead lightly. 

“No, sorry. If it makes you feel better, I don’t have any, either. Yamaguchi is special like that,” Terushima said in his most placating tone of voice. 

_ He’s special in a lot of other ways, too.  _

“Nii-chan, is Yamaguchi-san your  _ boyfriend?”  _ Aiko asked teasingly. Damn, for a little kid, she was surprisingly meddlesome. 

“No, he’s not, Aiko.” 

Aiko pouted up at him. “But you want him to be, right?” 

Thanks to whatever benevolent deity was watching Terushima, they reached the front door before he had to respond. 

“You ask too many questions, Aiko! Now, go get dressed for bed!” 

Aiko squealed and dashed up the stairs, Terushima following, albeit not nearly as quickly. He closed the door to his bedroom and flopped onto his bed, grabbing his pillow and clutching it to his chest. 

Did he want Yamaguchi to be his boyfriend? He barely knew the guy!

But, even so… Terushima knew that he was kind. He knew that he was shy, and got flustered easily. He knew that he’d been bullied before and didn’t think anyone would notice if he was gone. He knew that he was a genuinely good person, something that’s hard to find these days. 

He knew a surprising amount from just a few interactions, actually.

So, did he want Yamaguchi Tadashi, Freckles himself, to be his boyfriend?

Well, yeah. 

Terushima knew that quite honestly, in his seventeen years of life, that he’d never felt this strongly about someone, despite the fact he’d met him yesterday. Sure, he liked to flirt, and he considered himself a bit of a connoisseur of objective attractiveness in men, women, and everyone in between. But that was all it was- objective. 

Objectively, he thought Karasuno’s manager was very beautiful. Objectively, he thought some of his teammates could be really handsome if they dressed up. 

Objectively, he just really wanted to hold Yamaguchi’s hand. 

It was an innocent kind of feeling, one that was unique and new and felt sort of pure. He didn’t want to sit back and admire Yamaguchi’s beauty from afar, he wanted to comb fingers through his hair and count the freckles on his cheeks. He didn’t want to wear Yamaguchi on his arm, he wanted to stay in and watch cheesy movies and laugh at the stupid love confessions that would never work in real life. 

Terushima groaned into his pillow. 

He had it bad. Really, really bad. 

He practically leapt out of his skin when his phone buzzed in his pocket, but when he opened it, it was just a text from a teammate asking for homework answers. 

Well, fuck if Terushima knew the worksheet answers! He was far too busy having revelations about his love life to do his schoolwork right now. 

He stared at his phone as if he could will Yamaguchi to text him from across the city, just by staring at the call log that held his number. 

When that didn’t work (shockingly), Terushima weighed his options. 

On the one hand, Yamaguchi didn’t seem like the type to text anyone first. He seemed like the kind of person to wait and accept the hand that was dealt, which meant Terushima should text him first. 

On the other hand, there was a chance that Yamaguchi was actually completely uninterested in him and was merely too shy to say anything to his face, but would scoff in disgust at any flirtatious first text Terushima sent. Which meant he  _ shouldn’t  _ text first. 

Terushima slammed his phone down on the bed beside him. 

If he’d had any doubts about how deep his feelings for Freckles ran, this was confirmation. Never before had he worried about texting first or unreciprocated feelings. He was more of a jump-now, ask-later kind of guy, and that applied to pretty much any and all areas of his life. But here he was, staring at his phone and whining about looking desperate like a protagonist from a romantic comedy. 

No, no, he was gonna do this. He could text Yamaguchi first. He would be fine, he wasn’t a wimp. He could do something as small as sending a stupid text. 

With teeth gritted in determination, he pulled up his call log and saved the most recent name under ‘freckles’ before hovering his fingers over the keyboard. 

He stayed like that for two full minutes before he gave up and shut his phone off again. 

“God, what is  _ wrong  _ with me?!” He groaned into his comforter. He couldn’t send one stupid text. All he had to do was say hello, so why couldn’t he get his shit together and type it out? He was supposed to be cool! He was supposed to be the guy with the undercut and the piercings, the one people were intimidated by.

No one would be intimidated if they could see him now. 

What Terushima needed was advice. He could probably ask his teammates, but only if he wanted to be subjected to a barrage of teasing, and God save him if they went up against Karasuno again and his meddlesome friends knew about his crush. 

He thought of his older sister, who was probably on her third drink by now. Maybe sober, she could help, but he needed advice now. 

An idea struck him and he was typing his message out before he could think better of it. 

**me:** _ i need your help _

The response was nearly immediate. 

**misaki:** _ i’m not helping you with your homework do it yourself  _

**me:** _ no!!! i don’t need homework help _

**me:** _ i need help texting someone _

**misaki:** _ no _

**misaki:** _ i’m not subjecting some poor soul to you and your affections  _

**me:** _ misaki-san!?!??! please this is actually serious!!!!! _

**misaki:** _ answer one question for me. if i like the answer i’ll help you  _

**me:** _ yes! ask away! _

Misaki typed for a long while, the little typing icon flashing for what felt like an hour. 

**misaki:** _ why do you like this person?  _

Ah. That was a… tough question. 

Terushima wrote a few answers and then deleted them, because they didn’t feel  _ right,  _ they didn’t feel  _ real.  _ When he finally wrote something that felt like it summed up his feelings, he sent it before he could regret how vulnerable he sounded. 

**me:** _ i like him because he’s nice and sweet and doesn’t realize it about himself. misaki-san, i’ve never felt this way about someone and i don’t know what to do. i don’t want to fuck it up. please help me.  _

**misaki:** _…_

**me:** _ what the hell is … supposed to mean?!??!??  _

**me:** _ are you gonna help me or not???? _

**misaki:** _ that was the most genuine display of emotion i’ve ever seen from you.  _

**misaki:** _ i’ll help you.  _

Terushima sighed in relief. A second later his phone was ringing, ‘misaki’ flashing in bold letters across his screen. He accepted the call, trying in vain to ignore the fact that his fingers were shaking, just a little. 

“Terushima?” 

“Misaki-san! Thank you for agreeing to help me, really,” Terushima said enthusiastically. 

“It’s not a problem. Now, tell me about this guy you’re so afraid of texting so I can understand the situation,” Misaki demanded from the other end of the line. 

Terushima took a deep breath before he launched into his explanation. 

“I met him yesterday after the games were over. He was getting beat up by some jackass third years who were angry ‘cause he didn’t get his team any points as a pinch server. So I…  _ deal with _ the guys, and as I’m carrying him to the nurse, I start realizing that I’m really, genuinely worried about this guy, and he doesn’t seem to care about the fact that he’d been beaten up. 

“So then I start realizing other things about him, like he’s kinda funny, and he’s really shy and easy to fluster, and I’m starting to think I might like him a lot. Then today, I’m out with Aiko and she gets lost. And somehow, out of everyone in the mall, she finds  _ him _ and gives him my number to call me to come pick her up, and so now I have his number in my phone but I can’t bring myself to send anything,” Terushima finishes, slightly out of breath. 

Misaki was silent for a long moment. 

“You really like him.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Yeah... Wait, how can you tell?” Terushima inquired. 

“You never called him hot or ‘bangin’ or any of those other stupid words you use when you’re attracted to someone. You called him funny and sweet. You’re not just attracted to him, you actually like him,” Misaki remarked. 

“Well, yeah, I already know that much. And he  _ is  _ cute, don't get me wrong. He’s really fucking cute,” Terushima responded. 

Misaki chuckled. “I’m sure. You said you met at the tournament? What team does he play for?” 

“Oh, right. Karasuno. He’s a pinch server, but we didn’t see him play at our game.”

Misaki made a knowing sound, as if something had finally clicked into place. 

“What? What are you “ahh”ing about?” Terushima demanded. 

“Nothing! It just makes a lot more sense why you were so happy Karasuno beat Seijoh. It helps if you have a crush on one of the players,” Misaki said teasingly. 

“I-“ Terushima started to protest, but he relented. He needed help, being defensive would get him nowhere. “Yeah. Yeah, it does.” 

“Alright, then why don’t you wish him luck against Shiratorizawa tomorrow? If he likes you back, that’ll be a sweet message to get, and if he doesn’t, you could pass it off as well wishing for the whole team,” Misaki suggested. 

“Genius! You’re a genius, Misaki-san. That’s exactly what I’ll do! God, I could kiss you!” 

“Please don’t.”

“Right.”

Terushima bit his lip. How would he say it? 

_ Good luck tomorrow!  _ Too generic. 

_ Play well!  _ Too vague. 

_ Kick Shiratorizawa’s ass!  _ Maybe a bit too forward, especially to start with. 

“Why are you still here? Go text him!” Misaki exclaimed, jolting Terushima out of his reverie. 

“Right, right! I’m going now! Thank you, Misaki-san!”

“Of course. Call me if you need anything else. But only about this! I’m still not giving you any homework answers.” 

With that, Misaki hung up. 

Terushima hovered over over the keyboard for a few minutes, endless possibilities of what to say running through his head, each one sounding too aggressive, too stupid, too presumptuous.

Eventually, he settled on something just flirtatious enough, but not enough that it felt too embarrassing to hit send. 

**me:** _ good luck tomorrow, freckles! i’m counting on you to represent miyagi at nationals!  _

The second he pressed send, Terushima threw his phone across the room and stalked downstairs to get a cup of water for his suddenly patched throat. 

He chugged the glass, and then a second for good measure. He stopped by his sister and tucked her into bed, then walked around and turned off all the lights and locked all the windows and doors. 

Yes, he was procrastinating checking his phone. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that. 

When there were no more chores to be done or dishes to wash, Terushima dragged his feet back up to his room and picked up his phone with a sinking feeling in his gut. 

**freckles:** _ thank you! i’ll try my best :) _

Terushima clutched his phone to his chest and flopped onto his bed like a romance heroine holding a letter from her husband who’d gone to war. With shaking fingers, he typed out a reply. 

**me:** _ i’d expect nothing less from my favorite pinch server! _

**me:** _ i’ll be waiting to celebrate your victory! _

**freckles:** _ you shouldn’t have that much faith in us. we’re up against ushiwaka, remember? _

**me:** _ screw ushiwaka. he’s got nothing on you!  _

**me:** _ you gotta kick his ass tomorrow, freckles! _

**freckles:** _ i’ll try  _

**me:** _ now you should go to bed! you have an important game tomorrow! _

Terushima knew that Yamaguchi’s imminent match held more importance than Terushima’s desire to talk to him, even just over text. 

**freckles:** _ right.  _

**freckles:** _ goodnight, terushima! _

**me:** _ sleep well, freckles.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m sorry if it seems like terushima is a bit ooc, but considering he’s in like... five episodes, and isnt completely developed as a character, i’m gonna go ahead and make him my own a bit!
> 
> i hope you guys are enjoying reading this as much as i enjoy writing this. 
> 
> i love you all! (i know i say that a lot, but it’s true!)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the day of the finals has arrived!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNING: shitty parents in general, alcohol abuse, and there are allusions to child abuse, but nothing graphic. 
> 
> if that is going to upset you or trigger you, please stop here and take care of yourself!!!
> 
> i love you all!

Yamaguchi was awake before the sun, groaning and moaning at the early hour before remembering  _ why  _ he was up so early. 

This was it. 

Today was the finals. 

He sat up immediately with a gasp, throwing the covers off and jumping up and out of bed before remembering the sleeping family below him and wincing sharply, practically launching himself back onto the bed. 

The night before, when he’d told his mother how early he’d need to wake up for his game, she’d merely yelled at him to make sure he didn’t wake anyone up with his ‘obnoxious stomping’. He stilled and listened for any sounds of his family coming to shout at him for being too loud, but the house remained quiet. 

Yamaguchi breathed a sigh of relief and crawled over to where his phone lay charging, feeling an odd sense of anxiety as he turned it on. 

He sucked in a gasp as he saw a message waiting for him on his lock screen. 

**terushima:** _ good morning to my favorite pinch server! best of luck today, freckles. i’ll be rooting for you from school!  _

**me:** _ i’ll try to make you proud :) _

Yamaguchi breathed out a shaking breath, not letting himself think twice before pressing send. 

Were they flirting? Was that what this was? 

Yamaguchi had really never flirted with anyone before. His only real experience in love was a childhood crush on Tsukishima, though it was more of an admiration of someone who let worries and mockery just brush off of his shoulders. 

Yamaguchi had never been able to do that. He’d grown up in a household where shortcomings and insecurities were picked apart and expanded upon, so he’d developed an awful habit of taking everything people said to heart. Tsukishima was strong. He was brave and unafraid- or perhaps he simply didn’t care to such an extent that he could walk through life with ease. Maybe he just kept it all inside, deep enough that even Yamaguchi couldn’t see it. 

That air of complete disinterest had drawn Yamaguchi in, desperate for some semblance of safety within Tsukishima’s defenses. Maybe it had been love, maybe it had been admiration or awe. 

Either way, he’d been eight and hadn’t exactly gotten any flirting experience then. 

So was this flirting? It certainly felt like more than a friendly well-wishing, but Yamaguchi couldn’t shake the feeling that he was reading far too much into a simple text.

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it and gently stepped back off of the bed, padding quietly over to where his uniform hung on the back of his door. He changed quickly and made his way down the stairs, taking extra care not to squeak the floorboards. 

His stomach was twisting with nerves, so Yamaguchi settled for a glass of milk and a power bar for breakfast, packing a second in his bag for the bus ride over. He grabbed his backpack, trying to ignore the fact that his hands were shaking slightly, and started the long walk to school. 

The sun was barely rising as Yamaguchi walked, but it was nice. He had learned to enjoy his walks to and from school (or more accurately, to school and from Tsuki’s house) because it gave him time to think and reflect on the day or what was yet to come. It was a time for him to be completely alone and he was content with that. 

At this point in time, however, every step felt like it echoed through the neighborhood, as if each meter he moved forward was a meter closer to his sentencing. The first mile was uneventful, full of futile attempts to calm his breathing, but halfway through the second mile, his phone buzzed in his pocket. 

His fingers trembled as he swiped it open, heart flip flopping as he registered it’s sender. 

**terushima:** _ what are you doing up so early, freckles? the game isn’t til later, isn’t it? _

**me:** _ it’s a long walk to school for me  _

**terushima:** _freckles, it’s freezing outside!_ _do your parents not drive you?_

**me:** _ no _

Yamaguchi silently prayed that he’d drop the matter. He didn’t know how to explain to someone that he barely knew that his parents refused to drive him to school because it was too far for them to want to, and that he’d only chosen that school so that his best friend could protect him from bullies, because his parents had never looked twice when he came home with bruises or soaking wet hair from being shoved into the fountain. Yamaguchi may not be well versed in flirting, but he knew that was probably too big a bomb to drop the third day after you’ve met someone. 

**terushima:** _ you know, you’re probably not that far away from where i live if we go to the same mall _

**terushima:** _ how would you feel if i gave you a ride to school in the mornings? _

**terushima:** _ i promise i’m a good driver!  _

Yamaguchi’s heart did a gymnastics routine in his chest, flipping and diving and making it’s way into his throat as he read the messages over and over again until the words began to blur. 

Did Terushima- cool, smart, attractive Terushima- really want to spend time with Yamaguchi? The thought felt absurd, but the proof was there. 

His fingers trembled as he typed out a response. 

**me:** _ are you sure? i don’t want to inconvenience you… _

The response was almost immediate. 

**terushima:** _ what did i say? you’ll never be an inconvenience to me, freckles.  _

**terushima:** _ it’d be my pleasure.  _

Yamaguchi let out a shuddering breath, his fingers hovering over the phone’s keyboard, thinking of a hundred different responses, none of them sounding right. 

**me:** _ that would be really nice. thank you, terushima _

**terushima:** _ we can sort out the details later, you have a game to think about! _

**terushima:** _ i know i’ve already wished you luck, but i’m gonna do it again.  _

**terushima:** _ best of luck, freckles! _

**me:** _ :) _

Yamaguchi shoved his phone back into his pocket and allowed himself one breathless giggle before putting the conversation out of his mind as he crested the final hill between him and Karasuno, the school finally visible at the bottom of the next block. He could make out a few people already standing around the bus, spotting Asahi’s tall frame and Hinata’s flaming hair. 

Nishinoya spotted him first, waving aggressively and shouting his name before receiving a painful looking smack from Daichi. Yamaguchi stifled a laugh as Noya rubbed the back of his head and hid behind Asahi, who looked horrified to be caught in the crossfire. 

Yamaguchi hadn’t really understood the concept of found family until he joined the Karasuno Volleyball Club. Now, he couldn’t imagine his life without any one of them.

Yamaguchi made his way to the waiting group and took a seat on the curb, content to watch as his wild team jumped around in preparation for the game to come. 

Tanaka was the last to arrive, blaming a broken alarm clock and a hungover sister for his tardiness, and after a stern look from Daichi, they were all piling onto the bus and on their way. 

Yamaguchi sat heavily next to Tsukishima, sighing loudly, which only served to make Tsuki glare at him. Yamaguchi sunk into his seat further, his mind wandering as the scenery sped past in the window. 

“Has he texted you?” 

Yamaguchi turned in his seat to stare at Tsukishima, who was still staring out the window. 

“Uh… yeah,” Yamaguchi said quietly. “He wished us luck today. And he…”

Tsuki turned his head to look at Yamaguchi, who in turn looked at his lap. 

“He offered to give me rides to school in the mornings,” he finished. 

Tsuki was silent for a long moment. Yamaguchi had never expressly told him why he’d chosen to go to school at Karasuno instead of a school closer to home, but Tsuki was smart enough to understand on his own. 

Tsuki had been to his house before- briefly. Yamaguchi never let him stay, partially ashamed and partially afraid, but he was positive that Tsukishima knew that his situation there wasn’t good. After all, it was Tsuki’s house that he snuck off to in the middle of the night when someone came home drunk and in the mood to yell, and it was Tsuki’s parents who remembered his favorite foods and what music he liked, not his own. 

No one said anything explicitly, but they all knew. 

Tsuki’s parents worked early in the mornings and Tsuki himself couldn’t drive, so he could do nothing but let Yamaguchi walk by himself every morning and every night. 

“Good. It’s getting colder, you shouldn’t be walking,” Tsuki stated before turning back to the window. 

“Yeah,” Yamaguchi replied, staring down at his hands. 

—————

Terushima was brimming with energy. 

His feet were tapping, his legs were bouncing, his fingers were drumming, his mind was racing. 

Every part of his body was on high alert, as if  _ he  _ were the one in the finals, and not Freckles. He could feel the anxiety and adrenaline coursing through his veins like a drug. 

He couldn’t focus. Everything distracted him. That guy had the same hairstyle as Yamaguchi. That girl wore the same type of shoes. That laugh sounded the same. 

It was driving him  _ nuts.  _

He was sure his friends could tell, too. They gave him weird looks and poked him when he spaced out at lunch. He had waved them off and laughed, trying his hardest to refocus on whatever task was at hand. 

It wasn’t until just after one in the afternoon that his phone had buzzed in his pocket. After confirming that his teacher was busy at her desk grading papers, he discreetly pulled it out. 

**freckles:** _ we won!!!!!!!!!!!!!! _

Terushima pursed his lips together in an attempt to stop the wide smile from overtaking his face, something that would surely bring unwanted attention to the phone is his lap. 

They’d done it. They’d really done it. They’d beaten Shiratorizawa. 

**me:** _ i knew you would, freckles!! _

**me:** _ congratulations!!! _

**freckles:** _ why are you responding??? pay attention in class!!! _

Terushima bit his knuckle to stop himself from chuckling. 

Damn Freckles and his overwhelming cuteness. Even over text, he was palpably adorable. 

**me:** _oi, you texted me first!_

**freckles:** _right. sorry!_

**me:** _ relax, freckles. i finished my work already.  _

**me:** _ besides, celebrating with you is far more important at the moment!! _

**freckles:** _ i appreciate that :) _

Fuck. 

How was it that Terushima could keep his cool while he made his move on everyone else, but the second this shy kid told him he ‘appreciated that’, Terushima was reduced to a blushing mess with a thundering pulse. 

The worst part was, Terushima could tell that Freckles had no idea. No idea the power he held with just a few few words and a goddamn emoticon. 

**me:** _ so am i picking you up tomorrow morning? _

It had been a spur of the moment decision to offer that morning, but the thought of Yamaguchi, bundled up against the cold, still nursing a black eye, walking to school before the sun had even risen, it had made Terushima’s blood boil. 

He didn’t usually drive to school, given that he didn’t live too far and the walk was fairly calming, but the idea of getting to spend any semblance of time with Yamaguchi- and alone, holy shit- was far too good to pass up. 

**freckles:** _ i don’t want to make you do anything  _

**me:** _ how many times do i have to tell you that i want to? _

“Terushima-kun? Do you have something I need to take away?” 

Terushima’s head snapped up and he shook his head, slipping his phone so that it was hidden from view under his leg. 

“No, Satomi-sensei,” he said quickly, to the giggles of his classmates. 

His teacher looked down her nose at him from where she sat and then looked away. He sighed in relief. 

When his phone buzzed under his leg, presumably with Yamaguchi’s reply, it took all of Terushima’s self control and willpower not to whip his phone out and check it. 

He settled in for the longest ten minutes of his life as we stared at the clock, willing the hands to move faster. (They didn’t.)

By the time the ten minutes were up, Terushima was leaping out of his seat to dash into the hall and down the corridor to his next and final class of the day. He sat heavily in his seat and pulled his phone out. 

**freckles:** _ can you just pick me up at the park on 5th street?  _

**freckles:** _ you know the one with the broken swing set? _

Terushima frowned down at his phone. 

**me:** _ not at your house? _

**freckles:** _ no  _

There it was again. That simple ‘no’ that made Terushima’s blood run cold. There was something more behind that answer, he knew it. 

Something just wasn’t right. 

But it wasn’t Terushima’s place to say anything. Not when they barely knew each other. 

Someday. Someday he would figure it out and set things right. He’d just have to wait. 

**me:** _ alright. the park on 5th with the broken swing set. i’ll be there at 7:30? _

**freckles:** _ okay :) _

When no other messages came in, Terushima pocketed his phone and tried his hardest to refocus on his final class of the day. 

The lecture dragged on, everything going in one ear and then straight out the other, but after what felt like a hundred years, the bell  _ finally  _ rang, releasing Terushima from his purgatory. 

He dashed through the halls for the second time in as many days, earning multiple glares from students and teachers alike. He brushed them off easily, dodging and weaving his way through the crowds. 

He was the first in the club room, but not by much. Futamata and Bobota arrived soon after, chatting about a test they’d taken that morning and how they were both convinced they’d failed. 

“Teru, you gotta help us, man! We’re drowning!” Bobota exclaimed desperately. 

“Yeah, and you never responded to my text about the homework last night!” Futamata accused. 

“Dude, that wasn’t a ‘text about the homework’ you literally just asked for a picture of my answers!” Terushima said, laughing as he pulled his practice shirt on. 

“Yeah! But I asked in a text didn't I? And the subject of that text was homework, was it not?” Futamata reasoned, pulling his own locker open. 

Terushima just punched his shoulder in response as more of their teammates filed in.

“Oi, who do you think won the finals today?” Bobota asked after a moment of quiet. 

“Karasuno did,” Terushima replied without thinking. He froze after a second and turned his head to see all of his teammates staring at him. 

“How do you know?” Numajiri asked, tilting his head. 

“I know one of the players. He told me,” Terushima said, trying to sound as casual as possible. 

Futamata’s eyebrows raised steadily until they seemed like they’d reach his hairline. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, a rapping of knuckles on the door interrupted him. 

“Boys, you’ve got two minutes to be in the gym or Coach is gonna make you run extra laps!” Misaki’s voice sounded from the other side of the door. 

There was a litany of curses that followed and a handful of the guys were still tugging on shirts and shoes by the time they were running out the door, racing to the gym. 

—————

Yamaguchi left Tsuki’s house with a grin on his face, stomach and heart full to burst. He waved at Tsukishima’s parents and caught a glimpse of Akiteru waving from his second story bedroom window. 

It was a shorter walk home from Tsuki’s than from school, so Yamaguchi made it back before the sun set. As he turned the final corner he swore under his breath. A beaten old pickup truck was parked in the driveway, looking liable to crumble into scrap metal if you so much as looked at it for too long. Immediately, Yamaguchi spun on his heel and started walking in the other direction. 

The first time Yamaguchi had ever seen that pickup truck, he’d been seven years old. It was maybe a month after his father lost his job and his parents had begun to fight. His father had told the family that some buddies were coming over to play poker that night, and had subsequently threatened Yamaguchi to stay in his room, lest he disturb them. 

A sense of dread that he hadn’t quite understood as a child had settled in Yamaguchi’s stomach when he saw that old truck pull into the driveway for the first time. The dread had stayed unfounded until later that night, when Yamaguchi had seen the truck drive away and figured it would be safe to go downstairs for a glass of water. 

It wasn’t. 

His father had been horribly drunk and was cussing his mother out and his mother, who looked a few drinks in herself, was yelling back. That was the first time Yamaguchi had seen his parents truly fight.

Now, he made sure he was never home when his father’s friends came around to play poker. 

Yamaguchi sighed as he made his way back down the street the way he’d come. 

Dammit. It had been such a good day, too! They’d won the finals. The flightless crows of Karasuno High were going to represent Miyagi at Nationals. 

Of course, his parents had no idea. Yamaguchi would be surprised if they knew he was even in the volleyball club at all. 

He kicked a pebble on the sidewalk in frustration. He couldn’t go back to Tsuki’s house, since his parents had basically kicked Yamaguchi out for a family night- they’d done it very kindly and Yamaguchi didn’t blame them in the slightest, since Akiteru was home and all- but it would’ve been rude to go back now. 

Shimida’s market was probably still open, but it’d be closing soon and Yamaguchi didn’t want to impose and force the poor man to stay past his closing time. 

So Yamaguchi just wandered the streets, hands tucked into his pockets and scarf pulled up past his nose to try and keep the cold at bay. 

He ended up in a place he’d found when he was eight years old, just an old, run down fountain tucked away in the back end of a park. It didn’t have any water any more, the plumbing presumably long rusted and out of use, but he’d spent a number of afternoons here when Tsuki was busy or when the poker buddies came around. 

The stone mermaid in the center with her arms outstretched in front of her, fingers splayed and hair running down her chest had been a friend for years. When Yamaguchi was very young, he’d believed that someday, she would come alive and take him back to her home under the sea where they’d live the rest of their days in magic and mirth. 

Yamaguchi didn’t believe that anymore, but he still felt a sort of connection to the statue. 

He sat on the rim of the fountain with a heavy sigh, resting his chin in his hand and looking out over the near empty park. Not many people wanted to brave the cold just to sit in a park with a broken swing set and a derelict fountain. 

Ah, well. That just made it all the more peaceful. 

Looking out across the scenery he knew like the back of his hand almost made the past few days feel… unreal. Almost like when he stood and walked home, he’d be eight all over again, scared and alone. 

He pulled out his phone, searching for something, anything, to ground him in the present. He pulled up the thread between him and Terushima and reread the few dozen messages sent between them,  feeling his cheeks start to heat despite the cold air. 

Yamaguchi remembered when he’d first seen Terushima at the gymnasium. Johzenji had been warming up, spiking and jumping around, looking so carefree and excited to be there. 

He vividly remembered the pull in his chest, the deep rooted desire to feel that damn  _ happy  _ for once, to just know that nothing could bring you down or remind you of a memory you’d rather forget. The boys of Johzenji had laughed and yelled as if they’d never had a bad game in their lives. 

And Terushima Yuuji, captain and most carefree of them all. 

God, Yamaguchi had wanted to be a part of that excitement so damn bad. He wanted that energy and that enthusiasm, that feeling of being  _ free.  _

Reality had given him a reminder of his place by beating him up in an empty hallway a few hours later. 

But Terushima had been there. Terushima had saved him. 

And as cheesy and sappy as it sounded, Yamaguchi felt like, in that moment, Terushima Yuuji had given him a little piece of freedom. 

And Yamaguchi wasn’t planning on letting that go anytime soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys. im sorry. i was planning on leaving the angst in the first chapter and just keeping it with the bullying but when i get sad, my fics get sad, so i apologize if you were looking forward to fluff, i promise i’ll give you fluff in the future, but for now: pain :D
> 
> cause, you know, if tsuki’s not gonna hurt yamaguchi, i gotta give that job to someone because i am a masochist and a sadist, all wrapped up into one ;P
> 
> go drink some water! eat! get some good sleep! i love you all, have a wonderful morning/afternoon/night!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just some relationship development!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for allusions to/the beginnings of a panic attack in the beginning of the chapter! if you don’t want to read that, skip to the line “Freckles? Are you okay?”
> 
> grrr sorry i haven’t posted i’ve been swamped, but hopefully i’ll be back to more regular updates!

Yamaguchi stood at  the corner of the park, the front half of his feet hanging over the curbside. He anxiously glanced up and down the street for any approaching cars to no avail. Periodically, he would squeeze the straps of his bag in an effort to expel some of his anxious energy, but it was futile. 

_ What if he doesn’t show up?  _

Yamaguchi looked harder, but still no cars pulled up. He didn’t even know what Terushima drove, not that he’d be able to identify it if he did know. Tsuki had always liked cars. He could pinpoint the make and model of pretty much every car on the street, not that he liked to show it off. 

Yamaguchi still wasn’t positive he could differentiate between a trailer and an RV. Was there even really a difference? 

He peered down the street one more time before huffing and settling down to sit on the curb, his chin resting on his knees. 

_ He might’ve been pranking you.  _

Yamaguchi stiffened at the thought. Sure, he’d considered that plenty, but Terushima’s texts had seemed sincere enough that Yamaguchi had quashed those doubts. Yeah, he wasn’t sure  _ why  _ Terushima wanted to talk to him, but he was pretty sure he did. 

But what if he was just really good at pretending? What if, this whole time, Terushima had been laughing at him, maybe even surrounded by his friends, all pointing and laughing at the stupid first year from Karasuno who was dumb enough to believe Terushima actually liked him. 

Yamaguchi’s stomach tightened painfully and his chest constricted, making his breath come in short almost-pants that left him a little light-headed. 

No, no, no, no,  _ no.  _

Terushima wasn’t an asshole. 

Terushima wouldn’t do that. 

Terushima liked Yamaguchi. 

_ Does he really? _

Yamaguchi squeezed his eyes shut tightly in an attempt to silence his intrusive thoughts, but it only served to make them louder. They were just so damn  _ loud. _

His mind was an enemy, feeding him twisted ideas and conjured mental images of Terushima laughing at him, Terushima holding his head steady while those third years kicked him over and over again, Terushima standing over his father’s shoulder as he waved an empty beer bottle. 

Yamaguchi pressed his eyes shut tighter and tried to focus on his breathing, tried to think of a happy memory, tried to-

“Freckles? Are you okay?” 

Yamaguchi snapped his head up to see Terushima hanging out the window of a blue car (if Tsuki were here, he’d tell him exactly what the little metal stars on the front represented, but all Yamaguchi could tell was that it was blue and shiny) staring at him with a confused look on his face. 

Yamaguchi scrambled up, thoroughly embarrassed to have been caught with his head between his knees in the midst of a brewing panic attack. 

“Fine! Fine, I’m fine!” Yamaguchi squeaked, mentally chiding himself for the fact that his voice had jumped at least two octaves. He cleared his throat and took a shaking breath, though his chest was still tight and his breath was shallow,  trying to will away the shaking in his hands. 

_ It’s the cold. That’s why I’m shivering, because it’s cold. No other reasons,  _ he thought to himself, even if he didn’t believe it for a second. 

“You sure? You seemed kinda…” Terushima trailed off, but his implied meaning was clear. Yamaguchi shook his head. 

“I’m fine, really!” He insisted, shoving his hands into his pockets. If he couldn’t stop them from trembling, he could at least hide them from view. Yamaguchi stepped forward and reached an arm out to open the car door, but froze when he heard a yelp of protest. 

Terushima scrambled out of the car and vaulted over the hood to stand by Yamaguchi, pulling the door open for him with a grand flourish and a sly grin. Yamaguchi could feel his cheeks flush bright pink. 

_ It’s still just the cold! Cold wind turns your cheeks pink, right? _

“Thanks,” Yamaguchi stammered, his heart doing a little flip at the way Terushima’s smile widened. 

“What kind of gentleman would I be if I let you open your own car door?” Terushima asked, as if that were obvious. Yamaguchi just ducked his head and folded his legs into the passenger seat, his long legs proving to be just a bit to lengthy for comfort. 

The first thing he noticed was the smell. It smelled like… Terushima, for lack of a better explanation. Almost like… sandalwood and mint, with hint of something heavy and rich. Yamaguchi tried to inhale as subtly as possible while Terushima made his way back around the car and hopped into the driver’s seat. 

Terushima glanced at the way his knees were pressed against the glovebox and chuckled. “There’s a bar underneath the seat you can adjust. Sorry about that. I don’t drive much, so it’s probably still set the way my sister likes it,” he explained. Yamaguchi bent forward to pull the thin bar, letting out a sigh when he could unbend his knees. 

Yamaguchi conveniently missed the way Terushima’s eyes lingered on his legs, flushing when Yamaguchi let out a breath and quickly turning to face the road, his grip on the steering wheel looking nearly painful. 

“Your sister. Aiko, right?” Yamaguchi asked as Terushima pulled down the road. 

“Ah, that’s my younger sister. She usually rides in the back seat. I was talking about my older sister, Mei. I think’d you’d like her, she’s a lot of fun,” Terushima said, glancing over for a brief second. “What about you? Any siblings?”   
  
Yamaguchi shook his head. “Ah, no. I mean, Tsuki’s kind of like a brother to me and Tanaka’s sister makes me call her Nii-san, but no one related by blood.”   


“That’s a real shame. Aiko  _ loves  _ you. She keeps asking me when she can see again her favorite  _ Yamaguchi-san  _ again,” Terushima said with a grin.

Yamaguchi’s mind whirled a thousand miles a minute. 

_ Was that an invitation? Did he just invite me over? Or was that just out of politeness- or was it for his sister? God, I can’t do this. How am I supposed to tell what’s flirting and what isn’t? This is too confusing, I’m not built for this. Shit, now I’ve taken too long to respond! I made it awkward didn’t I? But I have to say  _ something,  _ I can’t just sit here like an idiot- _

“Hey, Freckles, I don’t want to make you do anything you want to do…” Terushima said slowly, presumably seeing the suddenly overwhelmed look on Yamaguchi’s face. 

“No! I- I want to! See Aiko, I mean… And, you know, hang out.. with  _ you.  _ I want to,” Yamaguchi stammered, mentally kicking himself for being so damn  _ awkward.  _ Terushima just smiled back at him. 

“I… I don’t have practice today…” Yamaguchi managed to say, a real feat considering how suddenly dry his mouth and throat were. 

“Are you inviting yourself over, Freckles?” Terushima asked teasingly. Yamaguchi bit his lip. 

“I… Yeah, I am. If that’s alright,” Yamaguchi said, confidence increasing slowly but surely. 

Terushima looked at him sidelong. 

“‘Course it’s okay with me, Freckles. It’s a good thing I don’t have practice on Friday’s, I’d really hate to have to turn _you_ down,” he said with a wink. 

Yamaguchi continued to look at Terushima, even when he’d turned his gaze back to the road. The sun was only an hour or so risen and it shone through the car window, lighting Terushima up from the side. He seemed to glow like that, silhouetted against the sun. His hair looked more golden than blond, like it’d been pulled straight from a fairytale, gold thread spun from straw. The piercings on his ears glinted and reflected a dancing light-show on the ceiling of the car. 

Just like that, Yamaguchi felt a little piece of his heart fall into place. 

It was a strange feeling. It wasn’t like he’d ever felt like something was missing; there had been no gaping hole, no sense of longing. It was simply that this just felt so  _ right,  _ so goddamn  _ right,  _ that Yamaguchi’s breath hitched and his chest swelled with emotion. 

Somehow, in this bright blue car with this boy with ears full of piercings, Yamaguchi had found something he didn’t even know he was looking for. 

Then, Yamaguchi swiftly realised that Terushima was looking at back at him, his eyebrows raised and- shit, he’d asked a question and Yamaguchi had just been staring at him like a  _ dope  _ and oh, sweet Lord,  this was not going very well. 

“Could you-” Yamaguchi squeaked, clearing his throat quickly. “Could you repeat that, please?” 

“I asked if you wanted me to pick you up after school,” Terushima supplied with an amused smile. 

“If it’s not an-”   
  
Terushima held up a finger. “Ah! What did I say about you never being an inconvenience to me? Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten!” He slowed the car to a stop as they neared a red light. They were getting close to Karasuno, something Yamaguchi couldn’t say he was too pleased about.    
  
“No- I just don’t want to impose-”   
  
“Look at me, Freckles.”

Yamaguchi looked. 

“If I didn’t want to hang out with you, I wouldn’t ask. You’re fun, Freckles. I’d like to spend time with you. Stop worrying about embarrassing yourself or being an inconvenience! I offered you a ride because I want to see you, nothing more. My only motive here is spending time with a cute, funny guy, okay? Stop stressing so much,” Terushima finished softly, turning back to the road as the light turned green. 

“R-right,” Yamaguchi forced out. Was it possible to die from too much blood rushing to your head after someone complimented you? Yamaguchi was about to find out, given that everything from the tips of his ears to his collarbone was hot. 

Terushima smoothly pulled in front of the gate that led to Karasuno, sliding right in next to the curb. He really was a good driver. 

“Thank you for the ride,” Yamaguchi said, inclining his head in a bow. He tensed when Terushima reached out a hand and ruffled his hair, chuckling softly. 

“I’ll pick you up after school? I’m sure Aiko will be absolutely ecstatic to see you,” Terushima grinned. Yamaguchi smiled softly. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll see you after school,” he replied, stepping out of the car and shrugging his backpack over his shoulders. 

“Yamaguchi! Yamaguchi! Yamagu- Huh?”

Yamaguchi spun on his heel to see Hinata sprinting towards him at full speed, skidding to a stop when he noticed Terushima in the car behind him. 

“Are you here to learn our team’s secrets? You’ll never get it out of me! I’ll carry them to the grave! You won’t defeat me-“ Hinata began to yell, flailing his arms around a headless chicken. Yamaguchi (after some effort) managed to pin the redhead’s arms down, effectively shutting him up. 

“Terushima’s not here to… spy on us or anything. We live near each other, he just gave me a ride to school. Stop… doing whatever it is you were doing,” Yamaguchi said sternly. Hinata looked up at him suspiciously, sending a look at Terushima before spinning himself out of Yamaguchi’s grip like a trained dancer and subsequently grabbing his wrist and dragging him away. 

Yamaguchi managed to turn and wave at Terushima, who was sitting with his arms crossed, looking at them with an extraordinarily amused look on his face. He waved back and then- did he wink? He was far enough away that it was hard to tell, but it gave Yamaguchi butterflies all the same. 

Hinata yanked his arm and Yamaguchi stumbled before he was being pulled behind the gym. Hinata looked positively gleeful. 

“So, Yamaguchi! Were you dating the captain of Johzenji before our game together, or is it something new?” 

Yamaguchi stared down at him. 

“Excuse me?”

“Terushima!” Hinata exclaimed. “How long?” 

“What? We aren’t- He doesn't even- I never- What?” Yamaguchi spluttered. Hinata sighed exasperatedly. This was obviously not the answer he had wanted. 

“Give it up, Yamaguchi! You can tell me! I’m  _ amazing  _ at keeping secrets!”

That was a lie. Hinata had a horrible disease called Can't-Keep-His-Mouth-Shut-itis. It’s terminal. 

“We aren’t dating!” Yamaguchi hissed. 

Hinata frowned for a moment before his lips quirked up and his eyes narrowed. 

“But you like him.”

“I- Why would you even-”

“Don’t play dumb. You like him! You do!” 

Yamaguchi ran a hand through his hair and weighed his options. Sure, Hinata would probably be fairly annoying about it for a little bit, but once the novelty wore off, he’d get bored and move on to something else. On the other hand, if Yamaguchi  _ didn’t  _ tell him, Hinata would probably pester him every waking minute of the day for an answer. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I kinda do,” Yamaguchi admitted quietly, staring at the floor. 

Hinata cheered and punched his fist in the air. “He definitely likes you back, Yamaguchi! I saw him looking at you with those  _ guwaah  _ eyes!” Yamaguchi stared at him. 

“... _ Guwaah  _ eyes?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely! You know, those eyes when you’re looking at someone you have a crush on and your heart’s all  _ whoooosh  _ and your brain is all  _ pwahh  _ and-”

“What the hell are you talking about, dumbass? Speak Japanese!”    
  
Hinata whirled around to see Kageyama striding towards them with his hands in his pants pockets. Yamaguchi stifled a laugh at the milk carton poking out from his jacket pocket. 

“What are you two doing hiding behind the gym?”

“Nothing!” Hinata squeaked with a wink at Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi flushed, but he didn’t miss the split second where suspicion flitted across Kageyama’s face as he glanced between them. Hinata didn’t notice, unsurprisingly, and just plowed on. 

“‘Yama, ‘Yama! Will you toss for me?” Hinata yelled enthusiastically.

Kageyama rolled his eyes so hard they looked like they were liable to fall out of his head. “We don’t have practice today, dumbass,” he replied sourly. 

“And?” Hinata asked like the idea of not practicing personally offended him. Honestly, it probably did. Kageyama furrowed his brows, but he shoved Hinata in the direction of their class, saying he’d do it after school. 

Yamaguchi watched them go, focusing on the look on Kageyama’s face as he walked next to Hinata, who was animatedly telling a story. 

Was that the  _ guwaah  _ look Hinata had been talking about? Yamaguchi stared at the way Kageyama’s frown smoothed out when Hinata wasn’t looking, the way his eyes were trained on his companion instead of watching where he was going. How his shoulders angled towards the redhead beside him.

Yamaguchi sighed. 

Crushes were far too complex, in his opinion. 

—————

Terushima pulled into the school parking lot feeling a sense of deja vu. He hadn’t driven to school since the beginning of his first year, and now it was nearing the end of his second. 

Shifting his car into park, he reached around into the backseat to grab his school bag, blindly patting the fake leather until he connected with one of the straps and heaving it into his lap. 

Terushima could see Bobota and Futamata staring at him already. With a heavy sigh, he climbed out of the car, locking the doors behind him as his friends not-so-subtly waved him over. 

“Oi! Teru! Why’d you drive? You never drive!” Bobota yelled from across the lot. Futamata nodded in agreement, crossing his arms like they were about to put on a very shitty ‘good cop bad cop’ routine. Terushima sighed again. 

“I gave a friend a ride,” he stated plainly, walking straight past them and onto the school grounds. The pair chased after him and clung to his sides like glue. 

“Whaddya mean? You were the only one in the car!” Futamata said intently, looking at Bobota for backup. 

“Yeah, if that’s a joke, it’s… really shit. Worst punchline ever,” Bobota concurred. 

“I did give a friend a ride. He just goes to a different school,” Terushima said simply. Futamata leaned in front of him to share an incredulous expression with  Bobota. 

“Teru, since when do you have friends at other schools?” Bobota asked. 

“I dunno, since now! Why is this so fascinating to you guys?” Terushima asked, having finally reached his locker. He fiddled with the lock a bit before yanking it open and pulling out his textbooks. 

Futamata kicked his feet around and stared at the floor. “You just… You‘ve never offered to give  _ me  _ a ride, Teru.”

“Me neither!” 

Terushima closed his locker with a bang. “You both live five minutes away! And that’s if you walk like a grandma. Why would you need a ride to school?” Terushima asked, starting his route to his first class of the day. 

“It’s not about the  _ distance,  _ it’s about the strengthening of our friendship on the way!” Futamata stated brightly. 

“Wouldn’t we be better off strengthening our friendship by  _ walking  _ together? You know, ‘cause it takes longer, so that gives more opportunities for friendship-building!” Bobota interjected.

Futamata glared at him. “You’re not helping, Bo!”

Terushima laughed at his friends and waved them off as he stepped into his first class. They bid him an over dramatic farewell before resuming their bickering as they made their way down the hall. 

They cornered him again during lunch. This time, they’d brought Izaka and Numajiri as backup. He tried (and failed) to ignore their pointed stares from their usual table as he entered the cafeteria, but once they’d seen him, Terushima knew it was game over. 

He sat heavily at on the bench next to Izaka, who turned his head slowly to face him, eyes lidded and a sly smile playing on his lips. 

“So who’s the mystery guy you’re giving rides to, Terushima?” Numajiri asked. 

Damn. He’d thought Numajiri would be the one to help him out, or at least change the subject out of pity when it got too awkward, but he was doing nothing of the sort. 

“I don’t understand why this is such a big deal!” Terushima exclaimed, opening his bento and pulling out his chopsticks. 

“ _ Because _ , Teru! Everytime you set your sights on someone, we always hear everything about them! I’m, like, ninety percent sure I knew your last crush better than you did. I could tell you things about her extended family, bro,” Bobota said between large bites of rice. 

“Yeah! So you not saying  _ anything  _ about this ‘friend from another school’ is, like, super intriguing. It’s like he’s… shrouded in mystery!” Futamata declared. 

“Like an inegma!” Izaka stated proudly. 

Terushima choked on a piece of chicken in his laughter. “Dude, do you mean an enigma?” He asked incredulously, wiping tears from his eyes. 

Izaka waved his correction away with a lazy hand. “Whatever! Point is, he’s a mystery! And as your very, very, very best friends and trustworthy teammates, it’s our job to support you in matters of the heart!” 

“Right. I’ll keep that in mind,” Terushima replied dryly. 

The next time they confronted him was next to his car.

This time, it was all of the second years on the team. Terushima had thought he was safe. He’d made it the whole afternoon without anyone bringing it up so, like an idiot, he’d thought he was in the clear, free as a bird. 

He was not. 

They were all leaning on the hood, probably leaving fingerprints on the poor Subaru he’d saved up for months to buy second hand, spending hours working as an assistant at his sister’s tattoo parlor. 

_ Damn you all to hell _ , Terushima thought bitterly. 

“Oh, Teru!” Bobota called, dragging the syllables of his nickname out in a sing-song voice. 

“Yes?” Terushima asked in a fake-polite voice, elbowing his friends out of the way. 

“Got somewhere you need to be, Teru?” Futamata inquired, his tone saccharine sweet. He was also fluttering his lashes like a shouyou manga protagonist. It looked stupid on him.

“Yeah, I do, actually. So, if you would all kindly move your asses out of the way, I’ll just be going!”

“Going to see that guy from Karasuno, Teru?” Izaka asked. 

Terushima froze with one hand on the handle of the car door. 

“How did you- Misaki,” he growled. Dammit. Maybe it would be okay, just this once, to hit a girl. What if that girl has knowingly subjected someone to months of torturous teasing and jokes? What then? 

“It’s amazing what wonders you can accomplish by bribing her with a clean mouth,” Bobota said smugly. 

Terushima turned slowly to face him, his features slowly contorting into an expression of disbelief, shock, and a little bit of disgust. 

Bobota nodded. “Yup! I told her none of us would swear at practice for a week if she told us who the guy was,” he said, his face still stupidly smug. 

“Bo, you  _ really  _ need to work on your word choice, dude,” Terushima sighed, deflating. Bobota looked around at his teammates, all of whom were poorly suppressing their laughter. 

“What? What did I say?” 

Terushima cut him off with a wave. “Nevermind that. How’d you even know that Misaki knew?”

Bobota regained his sickeningly smug grin. “She accidentally told us she called you when Futamata was complaining about how you always ignore his texts about homework,” he explained. 

Terushima swore under his breath. “I have to go, but we’re not done here! I’m gonna personally beat all of your asses if you make fun of me!” He threatened as he swung himself into his car. 

“Yeah, yeah, go have fun on your date, Captain!” Tsuchiyu called out from the back of the group. 

“It’s not a- Fuck you all!” Terushima yelled, rolling down his window to flip them off as he reversed out of his parking space. 

They made kissy faces at him until he finally pulled out of the lot and onto the street. 

Terushima pushed all thoughts of his annoying, nosy teammates out of his mind and focused on the fact that soon, Yamaguchi would be back in his car, next to him, with his long legs, and freckles, and- 

Fucking hell. Maybe he deserved to be teased for falling so damn fast. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: 2/18/21 - 
> 
> i’m discontinuing this fic. i’m sorry, i know a few of you guys enjoyed it, but i don’t really enjoy the ship anymore, and the story was messy and unplanned. i just don’t think i could write any more for this story that i could honestly say was good enough to put out into the world, and i feel like you guys would have been more disappointed with a half-assed rest of the story than a discontinuation. 
> 
> i’m really sorry. 
> 
> i feel bad because i feel like this fic isn’t going well so i’m sorry :(
> 
> like i just feel like i’m not doing the characters any justice and the pacing is off and my writing is lacking and just aagghehheh 
> 
> thank you for bearing with me if you’re still here. i’ll try to get my shit together and see if i can make this fic any better for you guys!

**Author's Note:**

> best part about writing fics about non-main characters is that you can invent like their entire life lmao
> 
> just a reminder! all ships are valid (except like... illegal ones) so please don’t give people a hard time about what they do or don’t ship!! we’re all anime nerds, so we gotta stick together, we can’t really be infighting or we’re all going down. 
> 
> with that being said, please don’t attack my in the comments for shipping something you don’t.
> 
> i’ll update this soon with another chapter! this fic won’t be super long, but probably more than a couple. see you all then! much love to all of you, kisses and hugs. stay safe!


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